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University Archives and Records Center
University of Pennsylvania
Guide to the
Samuel "Frank" Ross (c.1912 - 1997)
Photographs, 1962 - 1983
UPX 12 R823
5 Cubic ft.
Prepared by Nancy R. Miller and Mary D. McConaghy
2008, 2009
Inventory available as a PDF file (235 kb, 125 pages)
View this complete guide as a PDF file (256 kb, 129 pages)
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PROVENANCE
After his 1983 retirement, Frank Ross donated his Penn-related photographic negatives and transparencies to the University Archives.
ARRANGEMENT
These negatives are arranged chronologically by assignment number and date. The inventory provides the subject and the client for each assignment.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Samuel "Frank" Ross was a well-known Philadelphia photographer who did substantial work for the University of Pennsylvania. He began his working life in 1927 as an errand boy for the Philadelphia Ledger newspaper, before becoming a photographer for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Inquirer. From 1945 to 1960, Ross made his international and national reputation as a photographer while working for the Saturday Evening Post. Among his photographs were the first nuclear submarine under the Arctic ice pack and experimental rocket launches in White Sands.
After the Saturday Evening Post moved to New York City, Ross remained in Philadelphia as a free-lance photograper, taking the University of Pennsylvania as one of his clients. His Penn assignments continued until his retirement in 1983.
Frank Ross died on February 1, 1997.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
This collection of Frank Ross's photographs documents people, activities, events and locales related to the University of Pennsylvania and the West Philadelphia Corporation. The collection consists of 35 millimeter black and white negatives as well as some color 4x5 transparencies taken on over 1,700 assignments from 1962 to 1983. Prints of some images may be found in the News and Public Affairs Records.
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